Tax summaries on their way confirming higher spending on health and state pensions

3 Nov 2015 09:34 AM

30 million tax summaries started arriving as of yesterday (Tuesday 2 November).

The next set of the government’s highly-successful Annual Tax Summaries started arriving through letterboxes yesterday (Tuesday 2 November), showing over 30 million taxpayers how the government is delivering on its commitment to invest in priority public services and provide a decent retirement for the elderly.

The summaries – which cover the tax and National Insurance each person pays and how that contributes to public spending - are being sent out for the second year running and confirm that health spending rose in real terms alongside spending on State Pensions.

Over the same period, hardworking taxpayers will also be able to see that the interest the government pays on Britain’s national debt fell, saving the country over £2 billion pounds.

New research also published yesterday by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) shows the success of the first set of Annual Tax Summaries, with four out five people finding their tax summary useful in understanding how much tax they pay – a key part of the government’s drive to make tax simpler.

The research into the impact of the first year’s tax summaries on people who remembered receiving them found that:

• three out of four of all taxpayers found the information on how much tax they paid useful (73% PAYE taxpayers and 84% Self Assessment taxpayers)
• eight in ten (78%) employees and nine in ten (92%) self-employed people reported they could remember information from the tax summary
• more than six out of ten of PAYE taxpayers and seven in ten people in Self Assessment found the information on how the tax they paid contributed to different areas of government spending was useful

David Gauke, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

We promised taxpayers that they would know more about how much tax they pay and how that money is spent. We’ve delivered on that promise - the vast majority who received last year’s summaries now know more about the tax they pay, and we’ll be reaching 3 million more people this year.

For the first time, this year’s tax summary includes information on how a taxpayer can create a digital tax account. The digital tax account was created as part of the government’s drive to make tax simpler. By early 2016, five million small businesses and ten million individuals will be able to use online tax accounts, meaning millions of people will no longer have to fill in an annual tax return.

The Annual Tax Summaries were announced by the Chancellor in 2012 and first sent out last year. Approximately 30 million tax summaries will be sent out this year covering tax and National Insurance paid in 2014-15.

Additional information:

• compared to the Annual Tax Summaries published last year, health spending has increased from £129.5bn in 2013-14 to £134.1bn in 2014-15. This includes all public sector spending on health across the UK. In the same time period spending by the Department of Health has risen from £109.8bn in 2013-14 to £113.3bn in 2014-15.

• compared to the Annual Tax Summaries published last year, Public debt transactions (interest on the UK’s national debt) have fallen from £48.0bn to £33.5bn. Part of this is due to a technical change because this figure now includes Bank of England debt transactions (which accounts for -£ 12.4bn in 2014-15).

• people who pay PAYE (pay as you earn tax, for people who are employed by an organisation or business) tax and SA (self-assessment tax for those who are self-employed including people who own their own business or work freelance) receive the tax summaries

• Self Assessment customers can access their tax summary online

• a technical note has been published explaining how the government spending set out on the tax summaries is calculated

• the HMRC analysis can be found online at GOV.UK

• personal tax summaries will be sent out from 3 November 2015

• Example tax summaries can be found on the HM Treasury Flickr